China offers Taiwan 2 pandas, cold shoulder

Beijing to lift tourism ban, rejects dialogue

May 04, 2005|By Michael A. Lev, Tribune foreign correspondent.

HONG KONG — The Chinese government, after making the symbolic gesture of offering Taiwan two pandas, turned aside the idea of opening an official dialogue with the island on Tuesday, the day a Taiwanese opposition leader ended a historic mainland visit.

As Lien Chan of the Nationalist Party returned to Taipei, China said it wanted to give the giant pandas to Taiwan as a show of goodwill.

Beijing also announced it would lift a ban on tourism to Taiwan.

But the question of whether Lien's visit might lead to an immediate warming of ties between China and Taiwan seemed to be answered when Beijing signaled that President Hu Jintao has no plans to accept an invitation from Taiwan's president to visit the island.

Wang Zaixi, a spokesman for the Communist Party's Taiwan Work Office, said at a news conference that China's government would have no official exchanges with the political party of Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian until the party makes several significant, and therefore highly unlikely, concessions to Beijing.

"We have no exchanges with the Democratic Progressive Party because its party constitution advocates the separation of Taiwan from the motherland," Wang said.

He said Chen's party would have to "drop the independence clause" from its constitution and "put an end to splittist activities," a broad reference to anything that China thinks contradicts the idea that Taiwan is a part of China.

While China and Taiwan have been governed separately since 1949, China has never relinquished its claim on the island and insists that it must eventually return to Beijing's rule. China also has threatened to invade if Taiwan declares independence.

A high-ranking Taiwanese politician had never visited China until last week, when Lien did.

His intention was to try to jump-start negotiations, as well as put his rival, Chen, on the spot.

Lien was able to arrange the visit because he did not represent Taiwan's government, and because China liked the idea of embracing Chen's rival. China said it would welcome lower or middle-level members of Chen's political party on private visits, but made clear Chen wasn't welcome.

Earlier Tuesday, Chen offered to accept a visit to Taiwan by China's president, saying, "I hope he can come to see for himself whether Taiwan is a sovereign, independent country, and what our 23 million people have in mind."

China's offer of pandas as a gesture of friendship has a powerful historical precedent: Beijing gave the United States two bears, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, in 1972 after Richard Nixon's landmark visits to China opened the door to diplomatic relations.

China has tried previously to give pandas to Taiwan, but the offer was rejected.

On Tuesday, Chen Yunlin, head of the Communist Party's Taiwan Affairs Office, seemed to think it was a good idea to try again.

"We hope the pandas, with their tame nature, air of nobleness and cuddly looks will bring joy and laughter to the Taiwan compatriots, children in particular," he said.